Scottish Executive

Autism

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what housing provision is available for 16- to 18-year-olds with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome in each local authority area.

Iain Gray: The information requested is not held centrally.

Cancer

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people over 65 were screened for breast cancer in 2001 compared to 2000, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of people screened for breast cancer in each year.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Women aged between 65 and 70 will be routinely invited for breast screening from April 2003, with the service phasing in over a three-year period. Women aged 65 and over may self-refer for screening at present.

  The number of women over 65 who were screened for breast cancer in 1999-2000 and 2000-01 and the percentage of women of all ages screened for breast cancer in each year was as follows:

  






1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



No. of women screened 
  

% of women screened 
  

No. of women screened 
  

% of women screened 
  



Women < 65 years 
  

109,177 
  

91.2 
  

121,546 
  

91.5 
  



Women aged 65 years and over 
  

10,530 
  

8.8 
  

11,334 
  

8.5 
  



Total screened 
  

119,707 
  
 

132,880 
  
 



  Notes:

  1. Scottish Breast Screening Programme data are only available by financial year.

  2. The above figures relate to routine appointments and self/GP referral appointments.

  3. Routine appointments relate to women who have been invited, by the Scottish Breast Screening Programme, to attend a standard appointment. This usually occurs once every three years. Self/GP referral appointments relate to women who have referred themselves or been referred for screening by their GP.

Communities Scotland

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on any concerns that Communities Scotland will no longer recognise UNISON in respect of staff transferred to it.

Iain Gray: It is not the case that Communities Scotland will no longer recognise UNISON. That union may continue to represent members of staff on a personal basis. As the new agency does not have independent collective bargaining status and therefore has no delegated responsibility for dealing with pay and related matters, these matters will be dealt with under the Executive’s existing single table bargaining arrangements with its three recognised unions.

Education

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the statutory minimum requirement is for the provision of community education.

Cathy Jamieson: Local authorities have a duty under section 1 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (as amended by the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992) to secure the adequate and efficient provision of further education. This includes a range of educational, social, cultural and recreative activities as well as physical education and training. There is no specific statutory definition of community education.

Enterprise

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what venture capital support is available to small technology companies in the current financial year.

Ms Wendy Alexander: A number of private sector venture capital companies are active in this field. Various public sector supported schemes have also invested in small technology companies in the current financial year. The Executive has been considering whether the needs of such companies are being fully met in the present market and I expect to make an announcement very shortly.

Enterprise

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which industrial sectors it, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, the Scottish Further Education Funding Council and the education sector concentrate their efforts on in attempting to develop the knowledge economy.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The National Clusters Liaison Group, which includes representatives of the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the funding councils and the education sector, is currently considering this matter.

Enterprise

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise have each taken, or plan to take, since the publication of its report Knowledge Economy Cross-Cutting Initiative to take advantage of commercial e-learning opportunities.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Scottish Enterprise are, in liaison with Highland and Islands Enterprise and other partners, taking forward a number of activities aimed at taking advantage of commercial e-learning opportunities. Action within the broad area of e-learning includes promotion, development of supply capabilities and stimulating demand. These are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and, as such, Mr Mundell may wish to contact the Chief Executives directly for details on action being taken.

Enterprise

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have each taken since the publication of its report Knowledge Economy Cross-Cutting Initiative to encourage the softer business and language skills necessary for Scotland to become a leading centre of e-commerce in Europe.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Following the publication of the Knowledge Economy Report, £6 million was allocated to the enterprise network for this purpose. The specific activities for which the funding is used are an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The information is not held centrally.

Enterprise

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or plans to take, to improve aggregate performance on research and development as referred to in its report Knowledge Economy Cross-cutting Initiative .

Ms Wendy Alexander: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-19144 on 14 November 2001. In addition, as part of the Scottish Economic Statistics Programme, the Executive is continuing to improve its understanding of the knowledge economy, innovation and research and development activity. Amongst other initiatives, the Executive is working on the development of a Knowledge Based Industries Index to measure growth in the Scottish knowledge economy, and recently published the results of a survey on Intellectual Property Commercialisation in Scottish Higher Education Institutions.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/who/elld/reports/finalreport.asp.

  The Executive is also working with Scottish Enterprise to commission from the Office of National Statistics further analysis of business research and development expenditure in Scotland. This will hopefully provide a more detailed and rigorous explanation of the reasons underlying Scotland's record in research and development expenditure.

Enterprise

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure on research and development in (a) business, (b) government and (c) higher education was in terms of gross domestic product in 2001 as referred to in section 5.5 of its report Knowledge Economy Cross-cutting Initiative .

Ms Wendy Alexander: 1999 is the latest year for which figures on government and higher education expenditure on research and development have been published. Figures for business expenditure have been published for both 1999 and 2000. In 1999, expenditure on research and development by government accounted for 0.3% of GDP and expenditure by higher education institutions accounted for 0.6% of GDP. In 1999, expenditure on research and development by businesses accounted for 0.5% of GDP in Scotland. Total expenditure on research and development in 1999 accounted for 1.4% of GDP.

  In 2000, business expenditure on research and development in Scotland accounted for 0.6% of GDP. All figures are published by the Office for National Statistics.

Epilepsy

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take in support of the international campaign on epilepsy "Out of the Shadows".

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is not planning any action directly related to "Out of the Shadows", though we provide grant funding to Epilepsy Action Scotland (EAS), which plays an active role in the campaign.

  We recently sponsored an EAS Symposium on Managed Clinical Networks for Epilepsy, and this year will also see the publication of the report of the UK-wide National Sentinel Audit on Sudden Death in Epilepsy, co-funded by the Executive, and the revised and updated version of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network guideline on the Diagnosis and Management of Epilepsy in Adults, funded by the Executive.

European Union

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what contribution it will make to the Convention on the Future of Europe announced in the Laeken Declaration on the future of the European Union .

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive considers it very important that Scotland should contribute to EU thinking on major issues such as the Future of Europe debate and believes that Scotland and legislative regions can play an important part in helping to address the acknowledged gap which exists between individual citizens and the EU institutions. The Executive will therefore pursue all the avenues open to it to feed Scottish views into the work of the convention.

Fraud

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases involving fraudulent procurement of goods and services on the internet were referred to the Procurators Fiscal in 2001.

Colin Boyd QC: Records of fraud cases do not distinguish between different methods of committing the offence and the information is, accordingly, not available.

Fraud

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions involving fraudulent procurement of goods and services on the internet were brought in 2001; what proportion of cases were brought (a) in the High Court and (b) in sheriff courts; where High Court sittings in respect of such prosecutions were held and how many sittings were held in each location; how many such prosecutions brought in sheriff courts were heard in each sheriffdom, and what proportion of all such prosecutions proceeded to conviction.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information held on the Scottish Executive Justice Department’s court proceedings database does not separately identify prosecutions for fraudulent procurement of goods and services on the internet from other cases of fraud.

Health

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients from each NHS board are currently held inappropriately at the State Hospital, Carstairs.

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards are unable to accommodate patients who are currently held inappropriately at the State Hospital, Carstairs and why.

Malcolm Chisholm: As at 31 January 2002, there were 30 patients in the State Hospital who had been waiting for more than three months since clinical agreement was reached between the referring and the prospective receiving clinical teams that they could be safely treated and cared for by a local service.

  Nearly half of these patients are residents of and therefore the responsibility of Greater Glasgow NHS Board. The remainder come from five other NHS boards and from Northern Ireland. To identify the small numbers for these, health boards risk compromising patient confidentiality.

  The Executive made clear in 1999 its policy expectations for the creation of local safe services and accommodation for mentally disordered offenders. Different NHS boards are at different stages in developing the services in line with the policy. In October 2001, the Chief Executive of NHSScotland reminded the NHS boards of the need to make progress in developing local forensic psychiatric accommodation, services and support. Last month, Greater Glasgow NHS Board announced its plans for the development of local services for the area. Further announcements are expected in due course.

Health

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to receive from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence a decision on the clinical effectiveness of Herceptin.

Malcolm Chisholm: The preliminary date for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to issue guidance to the NHS on the clinical and cost effectiveness of trastuzumab (Herceptin) is March 2002. As with all NICE appraisals consultees have the right to appeal against these recommendations. If an appeal is lodged the timelines may be extended in order to consider the appeal. Details of the schedule are published on the institute's website at nice.org.uk.

  The Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) will consult with experts to determine if there are any important differences to be considered in Scotland. HTBS will then issue authoritative guidance for NHSScotland in the form of an HTBS Comment, six to 10 weeks after NICE publishes its guidance.

Highlands and Islands Airports

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent by (a) Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and (b) any other organisation on marketing Inverness Airport to travellers in each year since 1997.

Lewis Macdonald: The amounts spent on marketing Inverness Airport to travellers are as follows:

  

 

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  

2001-02 
  

Total 
  



Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd 
  

£735,000 
  

£318,000 
  

£154,000 
  

£46,000 
  

£116,000 
  

£1,369,0001




The Highland Council 
  

£13,332 
  

£8,000 
  

£7,500 
  

£7,500 
  

- 
  

£36,3322




Inverness and Nairn Enterprise 
  

£13,332 
  

£8,000 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

£21,3322




  Notes:

  1. Seventy-five per cent of the total relates to promotional discounts and the remainder covers advertising, consultants’ fees, direct marketing assistance in cash to airlines and tour operators, management and staff costs.

  2. The expenditure by The Highland Council and Inverness and Nairn Enterprise relates to cash assistance to airlines and tour operators. No details are held centrally of support provided by any other organisations.

Holyrood Project

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the contractors involved in work on the Holyrood building project face exclusion from applying for future contracts which the Executive tenders as a result of poor performance.

Mr Andy Kerr: Contractors are not excluded from applying for contracts with the Scottish Executive but may be excluded at an early stage of the selection process. A short-list of firms to be invited to tender is compiled on the basis of an assessment of their suitability (for example, whether or not they have been convicted of any offences), their economic and financial standing and their technical capacity. The aim is to select suitable firms that, at the time, are considered best placed to carry out the required work. An assessment of technical capacity will usually include consideration of past performance including references provided by other clients.

Hospital-Acquired Infection

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts are being made to combat the spread of hospital-acquired infections in NHS hospitals in the Forth Valley Health Board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: A new national system of surveillance of hospital-acquired infections has been created and we have invested in infection control training for nurses.

  A National Standard on infection control has been set. The Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (CSBS) will report in March, on progress by the NHS against the standard. Over the following six months, the CSBS will visit all NHS boards and trusts to ensure that progress is followed up and will produce a further report later this year.

  A new National Standard for hospital cleaning services has also been made available to the NHS and the CSBS is working with Audit Scotland to ensure compliance with this standard.

Hospitals

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of consultation with the public and any other interested parties it would expect to be undertaken in respect of any temporary removal of in-patient medical services for children from Monklands Hospital to Wishaw General Hospital.

Malcolm Chisholm: I would expect Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to formally consult with the Local Health Council and to seek the views and thoughts of parents and children who have had long-term contact with the paediatricians at Monklands Hospital.

  I understand from the trust that the decision to temporarily transfer in-patient paediatric services over the winter period was taken on the grounds of patient safety. The trust advertised the proposed transfer in local newspapers, through GP Practices and in Monklands Hospital. I also understand that a public meeting was held on 12 December in Airdrie, where the public were invited to raise concerns and to clarify arrangements, including the reimbursement of any extra costs incurred in travelling to Wishaw.

  The trust has confirmed that in-patient paediatric services will return to Monklands General Hospital at the beginning of April.

Housing

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the financial package put in place by the Glasgow Housing Association for the proposed housing stock transfer is sufficient for meeting the commitments made to tenants.

Ms Margaret Curran: Glasgow City Council will assess the Glasgow Housing Association's Business Plan and submit a transfer proposal to the Executive. As part of this assessment the council will wish to ensure that the commitments made to tenants are met.

Housing

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to address the levels of rent currently paid by council house tenants in Glasgow.

Ms Margaret Curran: Council house rent levels are a matter for individual councils.

Housing

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Glasgow Housing Association funding bid for housing stock transfer is satisfactory and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Ms Margaret Curran: A Funders Panel was appointed by Glasgow City Council (GCC) and the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) to consider funding issues highlighted in the GHA's outline business plan. The Funders Panel report has now been completed and initial indications from funders are positive, but it is for GCC to reach agreement on the proposals.

Housing

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20755 by Ms Margaret Curran on 14 January 2002, what specific arrangement has been made between it and Her Majesty’s Treasury in relation to Glasgow City Council’s housing debt, should tenants vote in favour of wholesale housing stock transfer.

Ms Margaret Curran: The revised arrangements for dealing with local authorities' residual housing debt following stock transfer were set out in the answer to question S1W-18180 on 28 September 2001.

Housing

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20755 by Ms Margaret Curran on 14 January 2002, whether it plans to pay off Glasgow City Council’s capital housing debt should tenants reject wholesale stock transfer and, if not, how much of the £415 million allocated to the council for re-provisioning and demolition costs following such a transfer would still be available to the council if the wholesale stock transfer were rejected.

Ms Margaret Curran: There are no plans to pay off Glasgow City Council's housing debt if tenants reject the stock transfer proposal. As was made clear in the answer to question S1W-20755 on 14 January 2002, if the whole stock transfer does not proceed the funds for re-provisioning and demolition will not be available.

Housing

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20755 by Ms Margaret Curran on 14 January 2002, why the £415 million allocated to Glasgow City Council for re-provisioning and demolition costs will not be available to the council should tenants vote against wholesale stock transfer in the forthcoming ballot.

Ms Margaret Curran: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20755 on 14 January 2002.

Housing

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria were used in selecting 4 March 2002 as the date for the Glasgow housing stock transfer ballot.

Ms Margaret Curran: The selection of the ballot date is a matter for Glasgow City Council.

Housing (Scotland) Act 2001

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support is available to local authorities in respect of meeting obligations under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to draw up housing strategies in accordance with equal opportunity requirements.

Iain Gray: A plan is being considered by the Scottish Executive on how best to take forward the equal opportunities agenda in housing as well as the support that can be offered to local authorities to meet their obligations under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, including the preparation of Local Housing Strategies.

Housing (Scotland) Act 2001

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring processes are planned to ensure that local authorities’ homelessness strategies are drawn up in accordance with equal opportunity requirements under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

Iain Gray: The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires each local authority to state in its homelessness strategy how it will comply with its equal opportunities duty under section 106 of the act, so far as relating to the matters included in the strategy. Communities Scotland will be responsible for monitoring homelessness strategies and their implementation through its regulation and inspection function.

Individual Learning Accounts

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what will happen to the original £5.5 million funding allocation for Individual Learning Accounts.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This funding was spread over three years and was to help improve IT skills. From April 2001, I extended the 80% discount being offered through ILAs up to Level 2 courses and I expect that the funding for the first year will be largely taken up by that decision.

Judicial Appointments

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the ad-hoc Judicial Appointments Board ranked the candidates they interviewed in June 2001 for recommendation for appointment as a Senator of the College of Justice.

Mr Jim Wallace: Yes.

Local Government Finance

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much borrowing for capital investment by local authorities and other public bodies was sanctioned in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001-02.

Mr Andy Kerr: In respect of local authorities it is the level of capital spending that is controlled, not borrowing. The figures requested, for borrowing, are set out in the following table:

  

 

1999-2000
(£ million) 
  

2000-01
(£ million) 
  

2001-02
(£ million) 
  



Local authorities 
  

506 
  

589 
  

646 
  



Water authorities 
  

220 
  

213 
  

256 
  



Scottish Enterprise 
  

10 
  

10 
  

10 
  



Highlands and Islands Enterprise 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  



NHS Trusts 
  

21 
  

10 
  

50 
  



Caledonian MacBrayne 
  

1 
  

4 
  

14

Local Government Finance

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Scottish Borders Council regarding its budgets in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Mr Andy Kerr: It is entirely a matter for Scottish Borders Council to deal with its own budget matters.

Local Government Finance

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Scottish Borders Council regarding its education budgets in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been made aware of any potential overspend in the budget of Scottish Borders Council in 2001-02, particularly in relation to its spending on education.

Mr Andy Kerr: Scottish Executive officials met council officials on 10 August 2001 to discuss the council’s proposals to transfer resources between programmes within the Excellence Fund. The Deputy Minister for Education and Young People met a delegation from the council on 14 November 2001 to hear what the council was doing to ensure the continuing provision of appropriate education services.

Local Government Finance

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the effectiveness of the way in which Scottish Borders Council has managed its financial affairs.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Accounts Commission for Scotland, which is independent of ministers, is responsible for securing the audit of local authorities and for monitoring and investigating stewardship of public funds by local authorities. The commission has undertaken an investigation of the deficit in the education budget of Borders Council and has published its findings. These highlighted a number of high level failings in governance, and drew a number of general concerns to the attention of all Scottish councils. The commission now requires Borders Council to take appropriate remedial action and has asked the Controller of Audit to monitor the council’s progress and to make a further report on the council’s position after the financial year ending 31 March 2003.

Local Government Finance

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to protect the interests of communities which may be adversely affected by cuts in services proposed by Scottish Borders Council.

Mr Andy Kerr: It is entirely a matter for each local authority to establish its expenditure priorities within the budget available to it. It would not be appropriate for ministers to intervene in the individual spending decisions of a council.

Local Government Finance

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what minimum level of provision of community facilities in rural areas is appropriate and what action it will take to ensure that councils do not cut such provision beyond that level.

Mr Andy Kerr: Provided they fulfil their statutory duties, it is for councils to decide what level of services and facilities to provide in their area.

Ministerial Correspondence

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many items of official correspondence it has received from MSPs in each six-month period since its inception and what information it holds on the length of time it has taken to respond to such correspondence.

Ms Patricia Ferguson: The available information is shown in the following table. Between July 1999 and June 2000, information was gathered from each Scottish Executive Department’s own database and the information for MPs and MSPs was not disaggregated. Since July 2000 all information is obtained from the electronic ministerial correspondence system. The introduction of an electronic system, operative across the Executive since July 2000, has improved delivery and monitoring of performance.

  Correspondence from MSPs and MPs:

  


Period 
  

Correspondent 
  

Number of letters 
  

% replies issued within 17 working days 
  

% replies issued within 25 working days 
  



1 Jul 1999-31 Dec 1999 
  

MSPs and MPs 
  

3,141 
  

35% 
  

N/A 
  



1 Jan 2000-30 Jun 2000 
  

MSPs and MPs 
  

3,420 
  

35% 
  

N/A 
  



1 Jul 2000-31 Dec 2000 
  

MSPs only 
  

3,223 
  

38% 
  

N/A 
  



1 Jan 2001-30 Jun 2001 
  

MSPs only 
  

3,700 
  

59% 
  

80% 
  



1 Jul 2001-31 Dec 2001 
  

MSPs only 
  

3,624 
  

62% 
  

82%

Ministerial Responsibilities

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be represented at ministerial level at the 5th North Sea Ministerial Conference on 20 and 21 March 2002 in Bergen.

Allan Wilson: Yes. I will be representing the Scottish Executive as part of the UK delegation.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give details of the administration budgets of all non-departmental public bodies for each of the last two years and any such draft budgets available for each of the next two years, including outturn figures where these are available.

Mr Andy Kerr: Annual Reports and Accounts of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) contain detailed financial information including references to administration budgets, and are the main vehicles by which NDPBs regularly inform Parliament and the public about their activities and expenditure. Corporate Plans contain information on budget proposals. All of these documents can be obtained from individual bodies. In addition, a compilation of financial information can be found in the annual publication Public Bodies . Copies are available from the Cabinet Office website at:

  www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/quango.

Non-Domestic Rates

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much non-domestic rate revenue each local authority collects from businesses with rateable values of (a) less than £10,000 and (b) £10,000 or more.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

Nursing

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the rise in agency nursing and recharged staff costs from £7,619,000 in 1999-2000 to £13,513,000 in 2000-01 which has been incurred by the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, as detailed on page 11 of the Trust’s Annual Report 2000-01, has given value to patients.

Malcolm Chisholm: NHS trusts are generally expected to employ permanent nursing staff. There will, however, be occasions when this is not possible or practical. At such times, appropriately trained agency nurses are employed to ensure and maintain the delivery of quality patient care services.

  Decisions about the employment of agency nurses and the relationship with patient care are matters for consideration at local level, taking into account Audit Scotland Guidance on the employment of bank and agency nurses. Last September my department sought and received confirmation from NHS trusts that they were complying with the guidance. A further letter will shortly issue to the service reminding trusts of this requirement.

Organ Donation

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage citizens to undertake to donate their organs after their death.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is working with the Scottish Transplant Group, UK Transplant and patient’s interest groups to develop a national publicity campaign aimed at raising awareness of organ donation and transplantation. We have supported various promotional activities in the past and are always open to new and innovative proposals. We are also, as a matter of course, involved in the on-going provision of supplies of organ donor leaflets, as well as providing information in support of individual independent initiatives.

Regional Selective Assistance

Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to make available copies of (a) the report on the review of regional selective assistance and (b) its response to the report.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I have considered carefully the report which was presented to me in December. I fully accept the key recommendations of focusing more on growing Scottish firms and more support for quality projects. A full copy of the report and my response is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify the powers it possesses under the trunk roads maintenance contact with BEAR Scotland Ltd to issue directions, orders or instructions to BEAR in respect of BEAR fulfilling its obligations under the contract and, in particular, what powers it has to issue directions, orders or instructions to BEAR to use more vehicles, workers and grit when necessary.

Lewis Macdonald: The powers to issue directions, orders or instructions to BEAR are contained in the legal contact documents that form the contract.

  Provided BEAR meets its contractual obligations, the Executive would not expect to interfere in the way BEAR uses its resources. Any such interference could have serious contractual implications for either or both parties to the contract.

Roads

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will hold an enquiry into the causes and handling of the landslides on the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful in Argyll which caused a five-day closure of this route.

Lewis Macdonald: No. Following the landslides, the Scottish Executive asked the Performance Audit Group (PAG) to examine how BEAR Scotland Ltd handled the incident. The PAG concluded that BEAR responded efficiently with diversions put in place and resources mobilised quickly to deal with the problem.

  BEAR has been instructed to examine the causes of the landslides and prepare a report on proposals to minimise the possibility of future slips.

Scottish Enterprise

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many permanent members of staff were employed by Scottish Enterprise on 1 January in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many temporary members of staff were employed by Scottish Enterprise on 1 January in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money was paid by Scottish Enterprise to contracted consultants in 2001.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Enterprise spent on public relations staff in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Enterprise spent on contracted public relations services in (a) 2000 and (b) 2001.

Ms Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. The Executive does not hold this information centrally.

Telecommunications

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many telecommunications masts have been constructed in (a) Renfrewshire and (b) Scotland in each of the last three years.

Ms Margaret Curran: The information requested is not held centrally.

  You may be interested to know that the Radiocommunications Agency have a "sitefinder" facility through which information on individual sites can be obtained. It is accessed via the internet at www.radio.gov.uk .

Transport

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it anticipates publishing its long-term transport plan.

Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O-4414 on 1 March 2000.

Voluntary Organisations

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of any impact of funding cuts by Scottish Borders Council, reported in The Southern Reporter on 24 January 2002, on voluntary organisations that provide essential services throughout the council area and what action it plans to take in respect of such cuts.

Iain Gray: The funding of voluntary organisations by local authorities is a matter for individual local authorities to decide in light of local circumstances and priorities. However, the Executive has made a generous local authority settlement this year and our notification of indicative three-year funding should enable local authorities to plan their funding of local groups.

Water Authority

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail any reduction in costs associated with the option chosen for the Katrine Water Project (potential development areas 3 and 8) compared with the option ruled out (potential development areas 13 and 15).

Ross Finnie: This is a matter for West of Scotland Water, and I have asked the Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows:

  Different criteria than those used to select the scheme design options were used to identify the Potential Development Areas (PDA’s). This is because each PDA is the subject of more than one scheme option.

  At the first Value Management workshop the performance of scheme options based on PDA 13 were poorer than those short-listed for PDA’s 12, 8 & 3. In addition, for the same generic conjunctive-use option, it is some £9.5 million more expensive than the chosen scheme. There were two main drawbacks to PDA 13P:

  in order to gain access to the site for construction traffic, many narrow lanes would need to be upgraded. This would clearly have had an impact on the rural nature of the surrounding area, and

  considerable lengths of additional pipes would be required to be laid to enable the transfer of raw water to, and treated water from, the site.

  PDA 15 lies adjacent to Balmore Water Treatment Works. The generic option for this area assumed that all available development potential within the Balmore works itself would be utilised with the remaining treatment capacity being constructed on PDA 15. Capital costs for this option were at least £10 million more expensive than for the other PDAs. Further drawbacks of this option include:

  additional costs associated with considerable interruption to the existing plant at Balmore;

  the low elevations of Balmore and PDA 15 would have mean significantly more pumping than short-listed options with consequentially higher CO2 emissions and OPEX/whole life costs, and

  considerable extra lengths of multiple pipelines.

  The final scheme option, which uses parts of PDA’s 3 & 8, has not been directly compared with PDA’s 13 & 15, as the final option had not been developed at the time of the initial Value Management workshop. However, the final option performed better in relation to all the criteria than those options based solely at either PDA 3 or PDA 8.

  A full explanation of the Scheme Selection Process may be found in Annex D of the Environmental Statement which is part of the Planning Application for the Katrine Water Project.

Water Fluoridation

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when proposals will be developed with NHS and health boards for consultation on the fluoridation of the water supply, as recommended in the Action Plan for Dental Services in Scotland .

Malcolm Chisholm: The arrangements we propose for consultation on children’s oral health, including fluoridation of the public water supply, will be announced shortly.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliament Contracts

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer how many responses were received following the survey of MSPs and their staff in respect of the operation of the Parliament travel contract by Carlson Wagonlit; what comments were made in their responses and, in particular, whether they were favourable, and what action is now proposed in light of the response to the survey.

Sir David Steel: Only eight responses were received following the survey of MSPs, their staff and Parliament staff. Four of the responses were favourable, but this level of response cannot be considered to be a representative sample. Comments were made regarding the delivery and prices of tickets, invoice details and telephone contact with Carlson Wagonlit. A second telephone number for Carlson Wagonlit has now been provided and the Parliament is considering other enhancements to the service.

Parliamentary Visits

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer how many visits have been made to the Parliament by (a) overseas governments and (b) parliamentary delegations from overseas since July 1999 and whether any such visit included a meeting with a minister.

Sir David Steel: Since July 1999, 20 visits have been made to the Parliament by overseas governments and 95 visits have been made by overseas parliamentarians or delegations of parliamentarians. These figures do not include visits involving only officials nor visits from representatives of other United Kingdom institutions.

  A number of visits to the Parliament have included a meeting with a minister.

  On some occasions the Parliament arranges a meeting or hospitality involving ministers together with members from across the parties. In the case of some visits to the Parliament there is a specific request for a meeting with a minister. Parliamentary staff liaise with Executive officials over arrangements to ensure a co-ordinated programme. Parliamentary staff also facilitate requests for meetings between visitors and representatives of non-Executive parties.

  In many cases visitors make their own separate arrangements for meetings directly with the Executive or with party offices, outwith the Parliament visit programme.

Parliamentary Visits

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer how many visits the Parliament has received from UKRep since July 1999 and how many members of UKRep were present during each visit.

Sir David Steel: The Parliament has received two visits from members of the United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the European Union. On both occasions the visit was by the serving Permanent Representative. Sir Stephen Wall visited on 8 June 2000 and Sir Nigel Sheinwald visited on 29 March 2001.